Sakura's Secret
by Sasusaku fan 6632
Summary: Sakura was hiding some thing and Sasuke wanted to know What.
1. Sakura's change

Sakura 's Secret Something was wrong with Sakura.  
Sasuke could feel it in the way she had been acting lately. Suddenly becoming quiet, concentrating even less on the mission than usual, and looking behind her back quite frequently. He had thought several times about asking her what was wrong but every time he'd gotten a chance he wasn't quite sure about how he should inquire it. It was just difficult to mention it to her for some reason. He had not yet noticed that the peculiar way Sakura was acting would lead to something much bigger than this.

The start of the incident was quite a simple one. It had been the evening of a fall day, there was quite a chill in the air and the sun was setting a bright red orange. "That's it for today," announce Kakashi reading his "Icha Icha Violence" and looking somewhat red. "Same time same place tomorrow."  
"Yay! Ja see you guys tomorrow!" shouted Naruto running down the lane. It was apparently the day once a week that Iruka bought him ramen.  
"How can he still be hyper after that work out," muttered Sasuke when suddenly he felt a tug on his arm.  
It was Sakura.  
"Sasuke-kun," she said in a quiet voice. "Would you mind walking me home."  
"...Sakura, you live on the opposite side of town from m..." he started, looking down expecting to see the girl red and smiling as usual, but what he saw was totally different.  
Sakura had a worried look on her face, it even looked as though she was scared, and she was trembling. "Please" she said looking up at him. Sasuke couldn't say anything; he'd hardly ever seen Sakura looking that way. "Sakura are you ok?" he asked.  
"Y, yeah, I was just wondering if you could take me, at least half the way."  
He wasn't quite sure how to react. But he knew from the way she looked that she wasn't just playing around as usual. That it was something much more serious, so he muttered, "ok."  
The walk was quite strange. None of them said a word, and Sakura had been turning around as if she was searching for something several times. Sasuke kept an eye on her expressions. They were those of a child who was afraid some kind of monster would lurk up behind them, but Sakura wasn't any child, she was 13 years old. He at least knew that she wouldn't be afraid of monsters.  
When they had at last gotten to her door he decided it was time to ask her. "Sakura, something's wrong isn't it?"  
She looked up at him. His eyes were serious and gazing directly into hers. She was quite surprised because she had never seen him with those eyes on her. She hesitated for a second, but then said, "It's nothing don't worry!" She was smiling but he could see that she was faking it. "Thanks for taking me home, see you tomorrow morning!"  
With that she ran to her front door and slammed it behind her, leaving Sasuke standing dumfounded in the dark street. Something was wrong with her, he was sure now, but why was she faking it then?

The next morning Sasuke and Sakura had gotten to the meeting place earliest as usual. Kakashi would probably be three hours late again, and Naruto would come about twenty minutes after the meeting time. Sasuke was leaning against an electric pole with his arms crossed and glancing at Sakura occasionally. Sakura just sat there, looking paler than the day before. Why wasn't she telling him? Sasuke had a strong urge to just ask her, to just find out why she couldn't tell him. But he couldn't, he didn't know why, but he just couldn't, maybe her rejection the night before had made him feel uneasy. It was when he was thinking this that Sakura broke the silence, "Naruto's later than usual."  
"Hm? Yeah." Replied Sasuke. "Can't I say anything else?" he secretly thought inside.  
"Maybe we could go pick him up, Kakashi sensei probably won't come for another hour or two."  
"He'll be alright by himself."  
"C'mon, it's better than just waiting here doing nothing."  
Thinking he had no other choice Sasuke followed her, Naruto's house was quite close from their usual meeting place so he didn't understand why he was always late. After about five minutes they arrived to the front door of his house. Sakura rang the doorbell, no answer, "Naruto!!" she screamed, again no answer. "Maybe he already left," said Sasuke peering through one of the windows.  
Sakura turned the doorknob, the door opened. "Then why is his door unlocked?" she asked stepping in.  
"Sakura, you know it's illegal to..." He was interrupted by a scream. "Naruto!!!!" it cried.  
Sasuke quickly ran into the house, there sat Sakura, unable to stand or say anything because of the shock. Naruto was lying on the floor, covered in blood and stabbed by kunai and shuriken all over his body.  
To Be Continued 


	2. The enemy Returns

Sakura's Secret (chapter2: The Enemy Returns)

"Naruto" Sakura said rolling him over He was alive, but wouldn't last much longer at this rate. Sasuke made a sigh of relief and ran to the phone to call an ambulance.  
"Who could have done this," he could hear Sakura mutter.  
She was right, who would try to murder a 13 year-old genin ninja? Was it because they had something against the nine-tailed fox? But he was obviously alive, why didn't they kill him then. That was when he heard Sakura say, "Could it have something to do with"  
"Sakura, do you know anything that could be related to this?" he said, putting down the phone after he'd called the hospital.  
Sakura looked at Sasuke, and then at Naruto covered in blood. "I didn't think it would lead to something like this," she said. "Well it may still have nothing to do with this anyway, but I guess I should tell you."  
"What is it?" said Sasuke getting irritated.  
"Someone's following me, stalking me I should say," she whispered. She tried to look at him but she just couldn't. What would he say? Would he just think it was a stupid hallucination or something?  
"What? You were being followed all this time and you didn't tell anyone?" He was mad. She didn't have to look up to figure that out, she could hear it in the tone of his voice.  
"I told my parents, they said I'm a shinobi so I'd probably be stronger than any stocker, so I thought it wouldn't be nece" She was interrupted.  
"Sakura you're a shinobi! Who knows who could be following you! They may have even been after your life, how could you not tell me something like that! Someone could have hurt you."  
Sakura had gone a little red from this, she knew it wasn't the time, but she could hear her heart beating. Had he actually been worried about her? Just when that thought had come into her head the ambulance had come. Naruto was quickly rushed to the hospital, and Sakura and Sasuke were left standing in front of Naruto's house. "We have to tell Kakashi," said Sasuke. "C'mon."  
"O, ok," said Sakura, still a little red from what he had just said. When they had arrived at the meeting spot they found Kakashi alone, of course reading his book. "Hmm What were you two doing alone so early in the morning?" he asked looking up. "Leaving your poor old teacher by himself."  
"Someone tried to assassinate Naruto," muttered Sasuke.  
Kakashi froze.  
"And someone's been stalking Sakura," he added.  
"This isn't good," said Kakashi. "And where's Naruto now?"  
"The hospital," muttered Sasuke. "We should head over there to see if he'll be ok."  
"I agree," said Kakashi putting his book in his pack.  
The three of them headed to the Konoha Hospital to find that Naruto's operation had not yet finished. After talking to a doctor they had become aware that none of the Shuriken had gotten any of Naruto's weak points, but because he had been hit by so many he overall was in quite a bad state. "Sasuke, this will mainly affect you, so I want you to listen calmly," said Kakashi when they had all sat down in an empty room. Sakura sipped the tea that she had been served and looked up at him.  
"Orochimaru's back in Konoha village" he said.  
Sakura nearly spat her tea out. Sasuke was staring wide-eyed at their teacher. Back in Konoha? Was he after Sasuke again? Sakura suddenly felt a chill run down her spine; she wouldn't be able to stand it if something happened to Sasuke again. "What does he want this time?" she asked lowering her voice.  
"It's quite obvious isn't it?" asked Kakashi. The answer she had dreaded, she looked at Sasuke to see his reaction, but he looked calm as usual. "He can't get me without having this curse take over my will," said Sasuke, sneering almost like he was challenging the guy.  
"That's right, so we probably won't have to worry about him doing anything to you," announced Kakashi. "But from what you just said Sakura. He may be plotting something, you should have a bodyguard for a while, it's too dangerous."  
"Um, ok," said Sakura.  
"And I'm appointing you as that bodyguard Sasuke."  
"What!?" screamed Sakura and Sasuke together. "C'mon, what do you mean what? To tell you the truth I think you would even be strong enough to keep off a Jounin, if they're not too high class. And like they all say, when you're trying to protect someone important to you, you can become you're strongest." He said, sort of winking at Sasuke.  
The both of them went red, and even redder when Kakashi announced, "ok Sakura, you sleep over at Sasuke's house tonight."  
"But sensei"  
"No buts, you don't want to put you're family into danger, I'll have someone else stay at your house just in case, but there is more chance if he's stalking you that he'll find where you are. And when he does the less people involved the better."  
"Kakashi, what if Orochimaru himself comes? Did you consider that?"  
"He wouldn't do something like that, he's too busy with his own affairs, besides he's got loads of men to spare."  
So it was somehow decided, leaving Sakura and Sasuke a little suspicious about Kakashi having some sort of ideas. But coming to the conclusion she would be safe Sakura got her sleepover stuff and marched down to Sasuke's house. She'd never thought she'd be able to see his house, she was nervous to tell the truth.  
"Here it is," said Sasuke pointing to it. It was quite small, obviously because he lived alone. It was a white house with a blue roof, and apparently he lived only on the second floor, even of that small thing. There were four rooms, a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, and what looked like a study/training room. "There's only one bed, but you can take it," Sasuke told her. "I'll take the couch."  
"Thanks," she said. "Oh, you haven't eaten right?" She opened her bag to take out a Tupperware container. "My mom told me that we should eat this, because you live alone she was worried you weren't getting enough vegetables. Mothers get so worried sometimes." She laughed.  
"Tell her thanks," he said. Seeing Sakura smile made him relax a bit. He needed as much comfort as he could get now, especially because the thought that Orochimaru was after his friends because of him was crossing his mind. They ate what was inside the Tupperware, a sort of vegetable rice thing, and got ready for bed, it had gotten quite late. The phone suddenly rung and Sasuke picked it up. It was from the hospital, apparently Naruto was going to be ok. "Really!" cried Sakura. "That's a relief, we can sleep better now." Too bad that wasn't what was going to happen.  
Sakura got into "Sasuke's bed". It faintly smelt like him, and made her feel warm inside. "I'll be in the living room so call me if there's anything wrong." Sasuke told her leaving. Sakura told him she would and closed her eyes, although the covers were soft and the pillows were fluffy, although she felt comforted by the smell of the young boy that filled the room, she couldn't be eased. She was still thinking about what had happened the past few days, noticing someone following her and then finding her friend half dead. It certainly wasn't the best time she could have. And most of all she dreaded Orochimaru coming to get Sasuke, what could she do if that happens? Would she be able to do anything? Just then she saw a shadow in the window.

"Come to me, use my power," bellowed Orochimaru. "Use my strength or else your friends will die."  
"Yeah right," said Sasuke. "I'm strong enough to protect them without using your senseless powers!"  
"What? This is not right! You are supposed to start depending on me to save your friends. I see what the problem is! It's the girl isn't it? For the first time in years you have something more important to you than your revenge. Well than I guess she will have to pay."  
"No wait, don't touch her!"  
Sasuke was awakened from his nightmare by a scream. He sat up on the couch, taking a second to get a hold of himself, then he suddenly became conscious.  
"Sakura!"  
He continued screaming the name as he ran down the hall, as he flung open the door, as he burst into his room and ran to his bed.  
Only to find that it was empty.  
To Be Continued 


	3. Going in

Secrets chap 3:Going In

"Sakura!?" Sasuke frantically called her name, but there was no answer. He ran out into the empty hallway. "No. . ." he said slumping down to his knees. An image of the death of his family appeared in his head again, blood everywhere, everyone dead, and him, just a kid, sitting there unable to do anything. He felt an enormous pain; he couldn't stand it, losing the most important person to him just because of the name "Uchiha." It took him a while to recover, but when he finally did he realized he had to do something, and quick.  
He ran out the door without much thought. Kakashi was his first attention, he was a Jounin ninja; he'd obviously know what to do! He ran through the dark streets of the Konoha village. It was two o'clock in the morning; there was not a soul in the street. He ran past the closed shops with darkened windows, sweat trickled down his face as he ran as fast as he could. The teacher's house was on the other side of town, it was quite a long distance; he'd have to be quick. He started to scream out the name of his teacher the minute the red Japanese-style roof of Kakashi's house came into view. He ran past the gate of his house and immediately started pounding on the door. "Kakashi!!! Kakashi get up it's an emergency!!!"  
"What is it?" he heard a faint voice from inside the house. The door creaked open and Kakashi appeared, wearing a mask regardless of the fact that he had just been sleeping. "Oh, Sasuke," then suddenly he made a serious expression. "Is something wrong."  
"I, it's Sakura," Sasuke said in a quivering voice. "S, someone's kidnapped her. . ."  
"What?" exclaimed Kakashi. "This isn't right, that wasn't what Orochimaru was after," Sasuke could hear him mutter.  
"What? What does that mean?" Sasuke stammered. "You knew the reason was in the village?"  
Kakashi paused before he finally said as though giving in, "there was talk that he was after one of the forbidden scrolls, even I wasn't told which one, but it apparently was the most banned one of them all. That's why at a meeting of Jounin and Anbu it was announced that we were to put all effort into guarding the scroll, if it fell in the hands of Orochimaru that would apparently mean the death of us all."  
Sasuke's fist started to shake, "so your just saying it was a big mistake? That Orochimaru was after me, my friends rather, the whole entire time!?"  
"Whoa, calm down Sasuke. . ."  
"How can I calm down!? He nearly killed Naruto, do you think he would hesitate in killing Sakura? Who knows what he's doing to her now, he could be doing one of his strange experiments on her or. . ."  
"Sasuke!" screamed Kakashi holding Sasuke still. "Calm down, if Orochimaru kidnapped Sakura because he was after you, then there's no chance he would have killed her."  
Looking as though Sasuke had finally gotten a grip of himself he calmed down. "He didn't?" he asked his teacher hopefully.  
"The whole reason he kidnapped her would have been to lure you into a trap. He probably has some kind of thought that if he killed her in front of you you'd use the power from that curse to get revenge. Meaning, that doing this is worthless if you don't walk into his trap."  
"Ok. . ." said Sasuke, "so what are we going to do?"  
"YOU are going to wait here."  
"What!?"  
"If you aren't there when he murders her than there would be no use in doing so. So the chances of being able to bring her back all in one piece are much higher if you aren't with us. I have an idea about where his hide-out is, I'm gonna go with a couple of Anbu, but you are forbidden to come."  
"Kakashi. . ." "Isn't Sakura's safety the first to consider?"  
". . .It's my fault that he took her. After my family was killed revenge was all I could think of, all I could see was darkness. Sakura seemed to change that, when she smiled for some reason I'd forget about all of it. She's the only thing that's held me together. It's my fault that this happened, I have to take responsibility for this, please."  
Kakashi sighed, "I guess there's no way to stop you. But this is serious, one mistake and it'll mean the death of her you know."  
"I understand."  
"Ok. I'm gonna have to contact some top class Jounin and Anbu to accompany me. We're leaving in an hour."  
Sasuke waited on Kakashi's living room couch while the contacts were made. Minutes can seem like hours when you're impatient, and to Sasuke this hour seemed like days. He had to look at the clock every 30 seconds to check and see whether an hour had passed yet. When Kakashi finally came into his living room announcing that they were leaving it had already seemed like it was 5 days ago that he had noticed the disappearance of Sakura. The teacher and student rushed towards the bridge where the Anbu were supposedly waiting. Three Anbu with their strange animal-like masks and the rest clad in black were waiting on the bridge. The first remark they said when the Jounin had arrived was, "you brought the kid?"  
"He insisted, this is quite a major mission, we'll need the most help we can get," Kakashi replied.  
"Well he better not cause any trouble," another Anbu said.  
Sasuke clenched his teeth but said nothing; he just wanted to get to the scene, fast. The five of them ran through the village, it didn't seem like any of them had any intentions of leaving the village, so Sasuke was starting to get curious as to where Orochimaru's so-called "hideout" was. When finally the four elder ninjas stopped they were in front of a small building that looked as though it had been destroyed by a fire and left that way for decades. "This is it," said Kakashi, "we're going in."  
At his cue they moved in, it was dark inside. They had to use torches to see where they were going. It was four o'clock in the morning; the sun wasn't going to come up for another two hours. The three walked slowly and quietly, suddenly Kakashi screamed, "Everyone move!" Just when everyone jumped away a couple of spears dropped from the roof sticking sharply into the ground. "Looks like there are a few traps here and there," said one Anbu.  
"Ah ha, a trap door," said Kakashi lifting a floorboard.  
"Isn't it a little too obvious to put a trap door right next to a booby trap?" asked Sasuke.  
"Trickery is a ninja skill Sasuke," Kakashi smiled, "That's what he wants us to think."  
They jumped down to find a metal door right in front of them. Kakashi kicked it open without much hesitance (telling the others to get to the side of the door just in case). Sasuke and Kakashi walked into the room, followed by the others. There was a strange stench, Sasuke recognized it, it was the smell of. . . rotting human bodies. Suddenly the lights flicked on and the five saw that they were in a room with blood smeared all over the walls. Suddenly four ninja's jumped from the ceiling, all in black traditional ninja costume, but instead of going after Sasuke, obviously the weakest, they went after Kakashi and the Anbu. "Sasuke don't move!" screamed Kakashi, trying to fight off the ninja that had attacked him but not being successful. "Their aim is to get you alone."  
Sasuke clenched his fist, and it was when he reached to get his Kunai and help his teacher that he heard the quivering voice: "S, sensei. . .?" Sasuke lost grip of his Kunai, it fell to the ground with a loud clang. The voice was faint but he could have sworn that he heard it. He searched the room and found that there was still another door; a wooden one that looked like it could easily be broken open. Sasuke darted towards the door, he could hear his teacher screaming for him to stop. Sasuke kicked it open.  
The room on the other side of the door was empty, other that one figure in the middle of the room. A girl with her arms chained to the walls

It was Sakura.

-To Be Continued- 


	4. The Fight

Chapter 4: The Fight

Sasuke was deaf to the calls of his teacher telling him to stop. He ran as quickly as his legs could carry him, his head filled with rage seeing the appearance that the girl was in. He ran into the room, windowless and completely dark, other than the light coming from the door of the room he had originally been in. Sakura looked up from her position and saw a shadow running toward her. She blinked, and then recognized it, "S, Sasuke kun? Sasuke kun!"  
He ran up to her and frantically made an attempt to remove the rusty chains from her arms and around her waist. "Sakura, are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?" he asked while breaking off the chains.  
"I'm fine," she said rubbing her arms as the chains were removed. "But we should get out of here, he's planning some kind of trap. I'm not sure what but. . ."  
She was cut off by a sudden cough. "Sakura?" Sasuke asked as she continuously coughed with her hands covering her mouth. She slowly removed them, only to reveal that there was blood on them.  
For about three seconds all they could do was stare at each other, wide-eyed. Then Sakura broke into a storm of coughs once more; blood trickled down her chin and onto her body. "Sakura!" Sasuke continuously called trying to support the girl. She wouldn't stop though; Sasuke hated himself for not being able to do anything. After a while she fluttered into his arms, tears were forming in her eyes from the pain; she didn't even have the strength to sit up on her own.  
"Sakura. . . what am I supposed to do?" He asked her, when suddenly someone spoke from behind him.  
"I cast a jutsu on her, if you want to save her you'll have to kill me within five minutes."  
Sasuke swiftly turned around. Orochimaru had clandestinely sneaked up behind them. He wore his usual outfit, an odd sort of robe, and had one hand on his hip with the other arm hanging loosely by his side. He sneered at the boy as if challenging him and continued his speech, "if you don't, of course, she would die form a lack of blood."  
Sasuke grinded his teeth, and was about to stand up and attack when he was stopped by a tug on his arm. Sakura was using the last of her strength to cling onto him. "Sasuke kun. . . Don't, he was going to kill me anyway. (COUGH) Just go, even if you fight it won't (COUGH) change anything." She lowered her head and coughed once again. A massive amount of blood dripped from her mouth like a waterfall. "It's either one of us or none of us, you understand that right?"  
Sasuke leaned her against the wall and smiled at her, it comforted her, and thinking it would be the last she would see of the boy she made a weak smile back at him. "I understand," Sasuke started as he stood up. Sakura knew this was the right thing, but these words were painful, she felt a sort of pricking in her chest, and not from Orochimaru's jutsu.

"That's why I think both of us should live," he said sneering at Orochimaru.  
"N, no. . .," Sakura started, but she had no more strength to continue her sentence. All she could do now was sit there silently and watch.  
"Here I go Orochimaru," he said, unbuckling the belt on his arm. He knew how strong Orochimaru was, and that he couldn't waste chakra on small attacks, he had to go for the big one from the beginning. That was why he chose to use the chidori first thing.  
"That's right, you need to give me your best shot to save your friend!" Orochimaru sniggered.  
His hand suddenly started glowing, it was ready. "HAAAAAA!" Sasuke screamed as he ran towards his enemy with his immensely glowing hand. He aimed it at Orochimaru and swung it, "I got him," thought Sasuke, not noticing his enemy moving behind him in less than a second. Orochimaru pounded Sasuke against the wall. "Errr" Sasuke said, trying to pick himself up despite the pain.  
"Sasu. . .," Sakura made an effort to call out his name, like she always did, but her voice trailed off. She was so weak by then that she couldn't even cough, she could barely even keep her eyes open to watch the two.  
When Sasuke had finally gotten to his feet, Orochimaru darted towards him and gave him a blow in the stomach. Once again flung onto the wall Sasuke coughed up a small amount of blood. "Hahaha, I guess you can't even protect your own friends!" Orochimaru laughed. Sasuke felt like something snapped inside of him, Orochimaru was right, he couldn't do anything about his family years ago. He couldn't let that happen again, not in front of him. . .  
Not to the most important person to him.  
Sasuke felt a pain in his neck building up, he knew the curse was reacting, but that didn't matter to him at that time. Orochimaru had jumped to the other side of the room, as though testing the boy to see what he would think of next. Sasuke felt strength come back to him caused by the curse; he set up for the chidori again. He started running towards his enemy, "I see your starting to use my powers," Orochimaru sniggered looking pleased. Sasuke made an attempted blow, but once again failed, Orochimaru's speed was the cause.  
Orochimaru laughed at the spot, "is that the best you can do. . ." He was cut short by a sudden pain in his back. He turned around to find five shuriken had stabbed him. His attention had all been on the chidori, so he hadn't noticed Sasuke throwing them in a boomerang sort of way. Orochimaru knelt down, it was more painful than he had expected it to be.  
"You've improved your skills again," Orochimaru smiled. Sasuke was panting, the curse had spread to his face; he hadn't been exposed to it for a long time. He fell to his knees, he'd suddenly become extremely tired, and he needed Kakashi to do the counter-jutsu on him once again. "I guess it would be a waste of your powers if I took you now." He snapped his fingers in the air, Sasuke had a question mark over his head as to what he was doing. "I think I can expect a lot more from you, rather than waste your talent now I'll wait a little more, at least until you're stronger than Itachi. I left you a gift, enjoy it while you can because you won't be able to after a while."  
That was all Sasuke heard, he collapsed on the floor the next moment.  
-TO BE CONTINUED- 


	5. By your Side

Secrets finale: By Your Side "See you tomorrow."  
"I'll call you if anything's wrong, and you, go back to your bedroom!"  
"Awww. . . Do I have to?"  
"You're completely back to health, I don't see why your still here in the first place, the doctor said you could go home."  
"Well it's lonely at home. Fine then, but you have to come visit me too ok?"  
"Alright, alright, but only after Sasuke kun wakes up."  
"Humph! Always Sasuke."  
CREAK BANG Sasuke slowly opened his eyes; there was a huge racket around where he was sleeping. He turned his head to look around the room. It was a hospital. There was a window by his bed on one side and a table on the other. At the foot of his bed he saw a chair that had a pillow and a blanket on it for some reason. At first there was a question mark over his head as to whose it was but then the figure standing near the door looking at his hospital card answered his question. Short pink hair and a red costume, rare characteristics you can recognize even if the person had her back on you.  
"Sakura?"  
The girl slowly turned around, "Sasuke kun!" She ran to the bed and knelt by his pillow. He sat up slowly.  
"No Sasuke kun don't move!" She said lowering him down again. "You must have been pretty tired, you were asleep for five days."  
"Five days!?" he exclaimed. Then he remembered what had happened, with Orochimaru and with Sakura. "Sakura are you ok? What happened after. . ."  
"I'm not so sure either, I lost consciousness when I saw Kakashi sensei come into the room," She started. "Apparently the curse had spread pretty badly over you, he had to do a counter-jutsu immediately. . ."  
"But what about you?" he asked.  
"I'm fine, a lot of rest and iron-rich food got me back to normal!" She said winking at him and showing a guts-pose. Sasuke made a sigh of relief and leaned back. His tension was loosened; she was ok.  
"I'm sorry."  
"Huh?"  
"I'm sorry, I got you involved in all of this, if only I was more careful," he closed his eyes. Then he remembered the 'gift' Orochimaru had spoken of, and about how he should enjoy it while he could. He suddenly understood what it meant. Opening his eyes again he said, "maybe we shouldn't be in the same group anymore."  
"What?"  
"Orochimaru was after you because he wanted me, and from what he said I think he means to go after you again. . . I don't want to see you like that again; it scared me. I thought I would lose someone important to me again. I can't go through that again, I just can't."  
"Sasuke kun. . ."  
"I don't want to see you die because of me. You're important to me." Sakura's cheeks reddened. "Just like Naruto and Kakashi are." Sakura's shoulders slumped a little. That's right she was always "the same."  
"Well are you gonna tell this to Naruto and Kakashi sensei too?" Sakura asked curiously.  
"No, they're strong enough to defend themselves."  
"Than that's unfair," she said, knowing she sounded like a nuisance. "Sakura. . ." he muttered as if irritated.  
"Well it's true, I'm the one that wants to be near you the most, and plus. . ." She reddened, "somebody has to love you."  
Sasuke stared at her dumbfounded.  
"Because nobody can live on their own," she smiled at him. Sasuke thought she looked beautiful, even more than she usually did. Almost like a light was beaming from her. He'd never felt so much for her.  
"Sakura. . . Would you, stay by me?" he asked, as though expecting a rejection.  
"You bet I will!" She gave him a thumb up. Five days, he thought, that meant she had been living there for at least four, seeing the blanket on the chair. Maybe it's ok. Maybe it's ok for people who want revenge to open their heart out to someone. Maybe it's ok for them to care about someone more than their fate. Sakura reached out and squeezed his hand, "you should rest now, you still must be pretty tired."  
A sudden tiredness weighed heavily on him. "Sakura," he said squeezing her hand even harder. "I'll become stronger, stronger than Orochimaru, stronger than any Hokage, and when I am. Well, then I won't have to worry about people going after you because of me. I'll train hard so I can protect you someday."  
"And I'll train hard so I can protect you, people that care for each other are supposed to protect each other."  
Sasuke closed his eyes, "I'm tired, I'm gonna rest a little."  
"Ok. . ." Sakura whispered as the boy suddenly started breathing heavily. She watched him lie there for a moment, he looked calm, nothing was worrying him. She hadn't seen him sleep so peacefully for those four days she was in that room. He'd looked worried, scared; but that was gone now. She slowly crossed her arms next to his pillow and rested her head on them. She stared at him in that position for a moment and then closed her eyes. "I'll always be by your side," she whispered, as she too fell into a deep sleep.  
-THE END- 


End file.
